Stihl 2-cycle mix question.

[TheJollyLogger]

Not at all cognizant of that myself. Last 'dirt bike I owned was a Yamaha 250 dual sport and it was just fine. Ran Klotz injection oil in that. All my 4 bikes are now 4 strokes now.

Considering the failure rate on bar oilers, I'm going to have to vote no on an oil injection system on my saw

 

[OM617YOTA]

I was thinking an extra reservoir to keep full or the saw blows up would be an extra pain, and where idiots are concerned, I don't see that being any safer for the saw than having to premix fuel and oil.

When I see people choose one saw vs. another over a single pound of weight difference, I think it makes a third reservoir and oil injection system a non-starter, not even considering the extra cost, complexity, and opportunity for failure. Would you choose the saw that's a pound heavier, a hundred bucks more expensive, and has more to go wrong, or premix the fuel yourself and save the pound and the $$$?

 

[bwalker]

Its true that modern fuel goes stale, but I respectfully disagree with the rest having used 40:1 for years. Yes running two strokes with more oil can necessitate more maintenance and cleaning, but this doesn't cause damage like running them with too little oil. 40:1 just gives you more margin for error. Its important to tune regularly for the mix you are using

Removing the spark screen is the first thing I do when I work on a new saw (wet climate) so that's not a problem but even if you have them they are really easy to clean with heat. I clean spark plugs with fine sandpaper. Yes I've seen carbon in the combustion chamber and I have tried to blow it out but I don't think its ever been a problem.

All fuel goes stale sooner or latter.
40:1 might in many cases will result in a cleaner motor than than 50:1 assuming you can tune a carb and are using quality oil of the right type.

 

[bwalker]

The first thing most dirt bikers and jet skiers did was remove the oil injection system because of the high failure rate.

Some oil injection systems were stone reliable, some not so much.
OMC outboards from the late 80's-90's were the latter. Snowmobile oil injection systems have always been reliable going back to the mid 80's.

 

[bwalker]

I was thinking an extra reservoir to keep full or the saw blows up would be an extra pain, and where idiots are concerned, I don't see that being any safer for the saw than having to premix fuel and oil.

When I see people choose one saw vs. another over a single pound of weight difference, I think it makes a third reservoir and oil injection system a non-starter, not even considering the extra cost, complexity, and opportunity for failure. Would you choose the saw that's a pound heavier, a hundred bucks more expensive, and has more to go wrong, or premix the fuel yourself and save the pound and the $$$?

In the long term if saws are to remain two stroke oil injection will have to be a thing. The reason for this is transfer port or direct injection don't have any fuel and thus oil entering the bottom end.
One thing Stihl really botched with the 500I IMO was not making it TPI. As it sits now it has 90% of the complexity with little to no benifit over a Mtronic saw.

 

[les-or-more]

I was thinking an extra reservoir to keep full or the saw blows up would be an extra pain, and where idiots are concerned, I don't see that being any safer for the saw than having to premix fuel and oil.

When I see people choose one saw vs. another over a single pound of weight difference, I think it makes a third reservoir and oil injection system a non-starter, not even considering the extra cost, complexity, and opportunity for failure. Would you choose the saw that's a pound heavier, a hundred bucks more expensive, and has more to go wrong, or premix the fuel yourself and save the pound and the $$$?

https://us.solo.global/news/53_Solo-880-and-881-Concrete-Saws.html
Been running the rebranded Sencore version for two years now, knock on wood, but no issues what so ever.

 

[dboyd351]

Based on my Solo 680, Solo made good saws No oil injection though.

 

[PV Hiker]

Honestly, any decent quality oil mixed in a reasonably close ratio isn't going to result in a torn up saw. There are other reasons you probably see problems:

1) People starting a cold saw and then proceeding to go into a full speed cut before it's come up to temperature. I'd instruct people to let the saw warm up a couple of minutes and blip the throttle 20 times before before starting.

2) People running a dull chain at full throttle and not providing enough load on the engine. This is hard on a saw.

3) Running the saw at non stop full throttle even when you're just handling small branches and limbs.

If I rented saws I would send them out with a one gallon can of 40:1 mix using Echo Red Armor or Amsoil Saber and a gallon of Echo bar oil (good and cheap). They are red and blue respectively. Tell them if they use any fuel or oil but yours they can lose their deposit and are responsible for repairs. Build fuel into the price. Check the fuel upon return by pouring some out.

Even an idiot will have a fairly hard time ruining a saw with that plan in place. Saws should last hundreds of hours and provide years of service if maintained (pro saws anyway).

I would wager that the majority of renters will dull a chain before the fuel tank is empty. Providing enough fuel for a day of work is great. Most renters have no way or the know how to sharpen a chain. So you are always going to have abused rental equipment.

I flew to my sister in law to cut some of her downed wood. The renter person at Home Depot said they throw away the chain and put a new on on the chainsaw. I bought Triflow fuel and a filer kit as I can't fly with a file. Her wood was so dirty that I was sharping a lot. That chain was thin when I was done. Majority of renters are not going to do that.

 

[PV Hiker]

Hopefully you can get enough payback on renter saws that you can keep replacing them. Most don't have deep pockets to venture into rental equipment.

Sell fuel in cans, filing kits and chains near the counter to boost sales for people that are renting chainsaws. Maybe some will file or replace the chain during the rental period. Some extra education might save your saws???

 

[les-or-more]

I was thinking an extra reservoir to keep full or the saw blows up would be an extra pain, and where idiots are concerned, I don't see that being any safer for the saw than having to premix fuel and oil.

When I see people choose one saw vs. another over a single pound of weight difference, I think it makes a third reservoir and oil injection system a non-starter, not even considering the extra cost, complexity, and opportunity for failure. Would you choose the saw that's a pound heavier, a hundred bucks more expensive, and has more to go wrong, or premix the fuel yourself and save the pound and the $$$?

While certainly not fool proof my cut off saw will not rev above an idle if there is no oil in the tank.
The solo is lighter than the husky it replaced and a few CC bigger.

 

[lone wolf]

I wonder if future generations of M tronic saws will sense that there is no oil in the fuel and cut out?

And a warning light will come on, and you have to take it to the dealer and put on the computer, LOL.

 

[dboyd351]

I flew to my sister in law to cut some of her downed wood. The renter person at Home Depot said they throw away the chain and put a new on on the chainsaw.

They likely do not actually throw away the chains even if they do put a new one on for each renter.

A few years back, there was a seller on ebay that specialized in selling multi-packs of Stihl chain that had been used one day for a rental saw. When the rental saw came back they installed a new chain and sold the used ones in lots of 3, 4, 6 or 12 chains on Ebay.

Good deal on Stihl chains that just needed a bit of sharpening.